Windows can sometimes end up in a state where it is able to connect to a network and even the Internet, yet queries to Windows about it's connectedness state report that it isn't connected to a network. There are a number of ways this can happen, although they all usually involve some type of driver installation issue. A typical symptom when Windows is in this type of state is seeing the network icon have a red X on it (), or seeing the the network icon show the "world" icon (), yet the PC can surf the Internet.


Network Drive Control can be configured to automatically be more aggressive about determining whether the network is actually running if Windows reports that the PC does not have a working network connection. The default is to not automatically be aggressive, as I'd prefer people to opt-in rather than force them to opt-out.


To turn on aggressive network mode, select the Help menu, and click on "Aggressive Network Mode". A check should appear next to the menu item. To cancel aggressive network mode, select the Help menu, and click on "Aggressive Network Mode" to uncheck it.


When "aggressive network mode" is operating, if Windows reports to NDC that there isn't an active network connection, then NDC will perform additional checks by attempting to momentarily open a TCP connection to "http://www.iana.org/" (The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, IANA) or to "https://www.icann.org/" (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN). The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a nonprofit organization that is responsible for coordinating the maintenance and methodologies of several databases, with unique identifiers, related to the namespaces of the Internet - and thereby, ensuring the network's stable and secure operation. Note the second possible connection is a https connection. If either of those momentary TCP connection succeeds, then NDC knows that despite what Windows reports, there is an active Windows connection and NDC will attempt to map drives.


I want to stress that NDC only attempts to open a TCP connection to either of the two above if it thinks Windows is reporting inaccurate network status info and the user has "Aggressive Network Mode" active. If Windows network reporting status appears to be working, then NDC won't need to attempt to open TCP connections to these websites even if it is allowed to.